The Roselli map of 1468,[257] the property of the Hispanic Society of
America, New York City, is nearly as complete as the Beccario map of
1435. It lacks only the western part of Reylla (a name here corrupted
into “roella”), by the reason of the limitations of the material. These
maps were generally drawn on parchment made of lambskin with the narrow
neck of the skin presented toward the west, perhaps as the quarter in
which unavoidable omissions were thought to do the least harm. Because
of the island’s position on the very edge of the skin, its outline,
although unmistakable, is faint and in a few decades of exposure of
the original might have vanished altogether. This raises the question
whether certain outlines, now missing but plainly called for, on other
maps of the same period, have not met with the same fate. Probably this
has happened. Antilia--spelled thus--is plain in name and outline;
so is the island next above it, spelled Saluaega. The “I” is omitted
from I in Mar, as was often done in like cases, and the words “in
Mar” are uncertain, but seem as above. The island figure is correctly
given by Beccario’s standard, and in general the representation of the
island series is almost exactly the same. Perhaps the most discernible
difference is a very slight northwestern trend given to Antillia,
instead of the equally slight northeastern inclination in Beccario’s
case.
THE BIANCO MAP OF 1436
The Bianco map of 1436[258] (Fig. 25) was the first of the Antillia
maps to attract attention in quite modern times but has suffered far
worse than Roselli’s in the matter of limitation. The border of the
material cuts off all but Antillia and the lower end of Salvagio, to
which Bianco has given the strange name of La Man (or Mao) Satanaxio,
generally translated “The Hand of Satan” but believed by Nordenskiöld
to be rather a corruption of a saint’s name, perhaps that of St.
Anastasio. It remains a mystery, though one hypothesis connects it with
a grisly Far Eastern tale of a demon hand. The initial “S” is all that
Satanaxio has in common with the names for this island on the other
maps that show it; and, as nearly all of these present very slight
changes from Salvagio, easily to be accounted for by carelessness or
errors in copying, the latter name is fairly to be regarded as the
legitimate one, while Satanaxio remains unique and grimly fanciful,
perhaps to be explained another day. The most that can be said for its
generally accepted meaning is that it corroborates Salvagio in so far
as it intensifies savagery to diabolism. One is tempted to speculate
as to whether any very cruel treatment from the natives had formed
part of the experience of the visitors along that shore; but there is
no known fact or assertion upon which to base such an idea. As to the
delineation of the islands, it is quite evident that Bianco showed the
same group as Beccario and Roselli so far as circumstances permitted;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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